[German version] (Μαφαρῖτις/
Mapharîtis, Peripl. m.r. 22). A region in the interior of south western Arabia Felix. In its capital Sawe (Σαυή), three travel days from the port of Muza, resided a prince by the name of Cholaebus (Χόλαιβος), in the middle of the 1st cent. AD. Compare the contemporary Sabaean inscription Sharabi-as-Sawā 1 (squeeze of inscription in [1] and [2]), according to which Kulayb Yuhamin, the tribal leader of Maāfirum, had a temple built below the city of Śawām. At the time, …

[German version] (Μαισαιμανεῖς/
Maisaimaneîs, var. Μναισαιμανεῖς/
Mnaisaimaneîs, Ptol. 6,7,21). A people settling in north-western Arabia directly west of the Zamēs mountain range in the neighbouring area of the Thamydenians; definitely identifiable with the Batmizomaneis (var.
Banizomeneis, Diod. Sic. 3,44,2) mentioned in Agatharchides (De mari Erythraeo 92) in the same region and with the Marsimani - named in the annals of Sargon II of Assyria from 715 BC after the Tamudi - who lived in the desert, owed tribute to no king and b…

[German version] Although A. owes its name to the word
arab (Bedouins), the majority of its population was always sedentary. However, favourable climatic conditions for agriculture only existed in the south-western A. highland and large oases such as Yat̄rib/Medina (Ḥiǧāz) and al-Yamāma in the East. Classical geography distinguished between A.
deserta, which extended from southern Syria to the northern Ḥiǧāz, and A.
felix, the southern part of the A. peninsula. The tripartite classification of Ptolemy, which added A.
petraea, did not establish itself [1]. Since the earliest t…

[German version] (Plin. HN 6,175 after Juba). Island off the west coast of Arabia Felix in the southern Red Sea. It served as the next point of orientation for seafarers after passing Exusta ( Catacecaumene [2]). M. can probably be identified with the island of Ḥạnīš al-kubrā (13° 43' N, 42° 45' E); it rises to a height of 407 m. When Ptol. 6,7,44 mentions Malichou (Μαλίχου /
Malíchou, Var. Μαλιάχου δύο /
Maliáchou dýo, i.e. the two islands of Malichus), this may refer to the two Ḥanīš Islands, i.e. the main island and its smaller, northern neighbour, Ḥanīš aṣṣ̄ụġrā. Müller, Walter W. (Marburg…

[German version] (Μαρίαβα;
Maríaba). Capital of the Sabaean kingdom in the south-west of Arabia Felix, today the town of Mārib (15° 26′ N, 45° 16′ O). M. is mentioned as the metropolis of the Sabaeans in Str. 16,768, according to Eratosthenes, and in Str. 16,778, according to Artemidorus. It can be found as
Mariba in Plin. HN 6,160 as well as in R. Gest. div. Aug. 26; Ptol. 6,7,37 lists the metropolis Μαράβα/
Marába (variant Μάρα/
Mára, Βάραβα/
Báraba). The name form Marsyaba (Str. 16,782) is surely a contamination of Mariaba and Saba. Sabaean inscriptions also render the…

[German version] (Μαρσύαβα/
Marsýaba, var. Μαρσίαβα/
Marsíaba, Μαρσυαβαί/
Marsyabaí Str. 16,782). A town of the tribe of the Rhammanitae (Ῥαμμανῖται;
Rhammanîtai) in Arabia Felix, subject to Ilasarus (Ἰλασάρος;
Ilasáros). In 24 BC, M. was unsuccessfully besieged for six days by the Roman army ( Aelius [II 11] Gallus); cf. the contemporary Sabaean inscription Répertoire d'Épigraphie Sémitique 4085, according to which the leader of the tribe of the Rhammanitae built an irrigation system for his master Ilšaraḥ. In other campa…